The Human BNST: Functional Role in Anxiety and Addiction

Avery, Suzanne N.; Clauss, Jacqueline A.; Blackford, Jennifer Urbano

doi:10.1038/npp.2015.185

Cited by 284 publications

(236 citation statements)

References 118 publications

(136 reference statements)

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“…Consistent with this perspective, there is clear evidence that humans and monkeys with a more negative disposition show heightened reactions to threat-related cues in a number of brain regions, including the amygdala, anterior hippocampus, anterior insula, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), mid-cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and periaqueductal gray (PAG) (Avery et al, 2016; Calder et al, 2011; Cavanagh & Shackman, 2015; A. S. Fox & Kalin, 2014; A.…”

Section: The Psychophysiology and Neurobiology Of Dispositional Negatmentioning

confidence: 91%

Dispositional negativity: An integrative psychological and neurobiological perspective.

Shackman¹,

Tromp²,

Stockbridge³

et al. 2016

Psychological Bulletin

210

208

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Dispositional negativity—the propensity to experience and express more frequent, intense, or enduring negative affect—is a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality. Elevated levels of dispositional negativity can have profound consequences for health, wealth, and happiness, drawing the attention of clinicians, researchers, and policy makers. Here, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of the psychological and neurobiological processes linking stable individual differences in dispositional negativity to momentary emotional states. Self-report data suggest that three key pathways—increased stressor reactivity, tonic increases in negative affect, and increased stressor exposure—explain most of the heightened negative affect that characterizes individuals with a more negative disposition. Of these three pathways, tonically elevated, indiscriminate negative affect appears to be most central to daily life and most relevant to the development of psychopathology. New behavioral and biological data provide insights into the neural systems underlying these three pathways and motivate the hypothesis that seemingly ‘tonic’ increases in negative affect may actually reflect increased reactivity to stressors that are remote, uncertain, or diffuse. Research focused on humans, monkeys, and rodents suggests that this indiscriminate negative affect reflects trait-like variation in the activity and connectivity of several key brain regions, including the central extended amygdala and parts of the prefrontal cortex. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative psychobiological framework for understanding the dynamic cascade of processes that bind emotional traits to emotional states and, ultimately, to emotional disorders and other kinds of adverse outcomes.

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Section: The Psychophysiology and Neurobiology Of Dispositional Negatmentioning

confidence: 91%

Dispositional negativity: An integrative psychological and neurobiological perspective.

Shackman¹,

Tromp²,

Stockbridge³

et al. 2016

Psychological Bulletin

210

208

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…That said, human neuroimaging studies of healthy participants show that the BNST, along with the insula, is activated during threat monitoring tasks 131,132 . To our knowledge, the BNST has not emerged as a key area of differential activation in individuals with PTSD.…”

Section: Altered Arousal and Reactivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Brain circuit dysfunction in post-traumatic stress disorder: from mouse to man

et al. 2018

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent, debilitating and sometimes deadly consequence of exposure to severe psychological trauma. Although effective treatments exist for some individuals, they are limited. New approaches to intervention, treatment and prevention are therefore much needed. In the past few years, the field has rapidly developed a greater understanding of the dysfunctional brain circuits underlying PTSD, a shift in understanding that has been made possible by technological revolutions that have allowed the observation and perturbation of the macrocircuits and microcircuits thought to underlie PTSD-related symptoms. These advances have allowed us to gain a more translational knowledge of PTSD, have provided further insights into the mechanisms of risk and resilience and offer promising avenues for therapeutic discovery.

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“…Although there are important species differences in V1aR binding (Bester-Meredith et al, 1999; Hammock and Young, 2006), dense V1aR binding in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is observed in a diverse group of rodents (Bales et al, 2007; Bosch et al, 2010) and primates (Freeman et al, 2014a; Freeman et al, 2014b; Young et al, 1999). The BNST has been proposed to be a key nucleus for stress-induced psychiatric disorders (Lebow and Chen, 2016), as it is an important regulator of both social behavior (O’Connell and Hofmann, 2011) and affective states (Avery et al, 2015; Hammack et al, 2012). Thus, the BNST is well positioned to modulate effects of neuropeptides on anxiety and social behavior (Coria-Avila et al, 2014; Greenberg et al, 2014; Markham et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibition of vasopressin V1a receptors in the medioventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis has sex- and context-specific anxiogenic effects

et al. 2016

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Vasopressin V1a receptors (V1aR) are thought to contribute to the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression, sparking interest in V1aR as a therapeutic target. Although the global effects of V1aR have been documented, less is known about the specific neural circuits mediating these effects. Moreover, few studies have examined context-specific V1aR function in both males and females. By using the California mouse, we first studied the effects of sex and social defeat stress on V1aR binding in the forebrain. In females but not males, V1aR binding in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) was negatively correlated to social interaction behavior. In females, stress also increasesd V1aR binding in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Infusions of V1aR antagonist in to the medioventral BNST (BNSTmv) had anxiogenic effects only in animals naïve to defeat. For males, inhibition of V1aR in BNSTmv had anxiogenic effects in social and nonsocial contexts, but for females, anxiogenic effects were limited to social contexts. In stressed females, inhibition of V1aR in the NAc shell had no effect on social interaction behavior, but had an anxiogenic effect in an open field test. These data suggest that V1aR in BNSTmv have anxiolytic and prosocial effects in males, and that in females, prosocial and anxiolytic effects of V1aR appear to be mediated independently by receptors in the BNSTmv and NAc shell, respectively. These findings suggest that males have more overlap in neural circuits modulating anxiety in social and nonsocial contexts than females.

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The Human BNST: Functional Role in Anxiety and Addiction

Cited by 284 publications

References 118 publications

Dispositional negativity: An integrative psychological and neurobiological perspective.

Dispositional negativity: An integrative psychological and neurobiological perspective.

Brain circuit dysfunction in post-traumatic stress disorder: from mouse to man

Inhibition of vasopressin V1a receptors in the medioventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis has sex- and context-specific anxiogenic effects

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